Requirement Of Serving Notice On Other Party For Appointment Of Arbitrator Is Dispensed With In Statutory Arbitration: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court held that Section 21 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, which mandates the issuance of a notice to commence arbitration, does not apply to statutory arbitrations. The case involved a dispute where the petitioner argued that the arbitration proceedings were invalid due to the lack of a Section 21 notice. The court clarified that statutory arbitrations, which are governed by specific statutes, operate independently of the procedural requirements of the Arbitration Act. This ruling highlights the distinction between contractual and statutory arbitrations, emphasizing that statutory arbitrations are not bound by the procedural formalities of the Arbitration Act, thereby simplifying the initiation process for such arbitrations.